Tag Archives: stereotypes

The Black Twitterer

A deep social study may exists in analyzing why black people have flocked to Twitter. Not to dwell on that in this post, I came across a post from InyyVinny.com as they responded to an article about black people’s habits and Twitter. Anyhow, they created some creative Twitter avatars to define the ‘Black Twitterer’, I have added my commentary to each avatar, see below:

My only comment about black people and Twitter is an observation: it has been well-documented that black people are late adopters to social media; in the instances of Facebook, MySpace, and even Twitter. Its not until a high profile figure in hip-hop and/or the black community endorses or talks about a social media tool, that black people will begin to utilize it. Being a black male myself, I am impressed that we do use Twitter, as it can be a useful tool, but I too often find that we are promoting and tweeting nonesense/foolishness/tomfoolery. Its always sad when a Trending Topic is some ghetto term and/or involves the ‘N word’. I truly think that due to the short 140 characters of Twitter, it allows many people to practice online, what they do in real life – talk sh*t. Because, if you roam Twitter for even 10 minutes, you will be left with the deduction that there is a lot of sh*t talking on here.

BlogStar

A guide to making a Hip-Hop Blog

Its been a minute since I have actually ‘written’ anything on the blog; notice the word ‘written’. Due to a busy and demanding schedule I had to resort to what my peers do so often – post Youtube/video clips. Now, there isn’t anything really wrong with that – heck, if a video is worth posting, then one should post it, right? And that is what many of my peers (the hip-hop/black blogs) seem to be doing constantly as they post the newest and latest audio track from Drake, Weezy, or Gucci Mane (which baffles me). To get into it, I have noticed that many of the hip-hop blogs out there have the same content, sometimes the posts are in the same order – meaning that they are importing a feed from somewhere. And I was like ‘wow’, this is really lame. Its good to see that the hip-hop/black blogs are out there, but people are not really giving opinions, no fresh ideas, or insightful wisdom is coming out – just regurgitated content coming from a few sources. So I had to ask myself ‘why is this the case?’, I mean the supply of content is plentiful, so why isn’t there varied content ranging from entertainment to social, psychological, and political issues? Or is the demand only focused on the entertainment?

Steps to Blog Fame

So with that said, I thought it would be prudent for aspiring blog ‘writers’ to have a guide as to how to produce and maintain a blog:

1. Cool Name

– Take a common phrase from hip-hop culture, like ‘Swagsterboys.com’ or ‘onthecorner.com’ or some other madness

2. Jack Off

Not literally, but if you do, do ya thing. But this refers to where you pull your content from, many bloggers like yourself get their content from RapRadar, Allhiphop, hiphopdx, worldstarhiphop, and vladtv. If you are ‘tech with it’, you can even take their feed URL, burn their feed with FeedBurner, and re-publish that feed for your own creative, unique, and suave blog.
– www.google.com/feedburner for more info

3. Collective Commentary

Of course you must distinguish yourself from the others, so what other way to do that than to comment on the content you ripped. The sharp and quick one-liners add flavor to your blog; even though the one-liners may be from the source you got the video from – hey, its ok, its still your own hands that wrote it!

4. That’s a wrap!

I mean, there is nothing else more to do right? Just mention your blog to your friends, your social network, and claim to have the latest and best content!

With the sarcasm aside, maybe I am expecting too much from these blogs, maybe I need to understand that this is only a section of hip-hop/black blogs. I mean, there are many good blogs on AOL’s BlackVoices.com, but outside of that, I don’t think there are much more. Maybe I am confusing the relationship between hip-hop & black blogs – though I am finding that most of the Black Blogs ARE hip-hop blogs. And then, maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t complain as much as I am in my own lane, and I can actually string together words to make sentences, that makes paragraphs, that makes a ‘thought’ or an ‘idea’ ….

Women in Mainstream Film

I thought these guys did a pretty good job in identifying gender stereotypes in popular films. Kudos, but they didn’t really offer a solution, but c’est la vie. A good watch rather than watching some gangsta try to shoot up Youtube.

I once worked in a restaurant, I only lasted a few weeks as a bus boy; carting dishes from the tables to the back for washing. One thing that I noticed about the waiters at the restaurant was that they took a proactive stance in trying to anticipate what the customer would want. Which makes sense, because the waitresses are trying to get a larger tip for providing good customer service. Keep in mind though, that the waitress has to use their preconceived notions about the customer in order to be ‘proactive’.

Jumping to the present, my girl and I have gone out to a couple of restaurants and we have both noticed a trend in the way wait staff are being ‘proactive'; we both have different interpretations of this proactive behavior.

Incident One:
Were at a nice Asisan Cusine restaurant, I order a pad thai, and a platter of spring rolls; my girl ordrers some noodle dish. The waiter, a middle-aged asian man comes over and asks me specifically if I would like some hot sauce with my pad thai. I’ve had pad thai many times before, and I was never asked such a question.

Incident Two:In a trendy part of time at a cafe/restaurant with a romantic/intimate ambience. I order a pad thai (again), and my girl orders a noodle dish (again). Now, this particular pad thai dish already came with spices, and our waitress asked me specifically again, if I would like hot sauce.

So based on these situations, I got to pose the question, are the intuitiveness of the waiters a sign of being proactive to the customer (as is my position) or is the intuitiveness a sign of disrespect and racial stereotyping (as the girlfriend is advocating).

I can’t call it, what do y’all think?

(P.S. I am a Young Black Entrepreneur Extradornaire … may help with your assessment)

Strong-Arm Mike is the tight-ass banker. Mike is the branch manager and takes pride in the power that he has over his minions. Mike is middle-aged, unhappily married, and work is a refuge from ‘home’. Thus, it is only fitting to make your refuge similar to your fantasy, thus Mike’s branch has a suspiciously high number of young, attractive female employees. Mike is a creature of routine, habitually and consistently. Strong-Arm keeps the order and equilibrium in his branch, and of course, Mike has the last and final word on all matters.

Mike’s primary motive is to protect the interests of the bank, and to maximize profits – at all costs. So Mike is a witty, slick guy. Strong-Arm is the type of guy to give you a hard time for loans, credit, and for even opening an account; Strong-Arm likes to scrutinize a lot, and even ‘play dumb’. Even if you make sense, you have correct documentation, Strong-Arm Mike will find a way to make your life difficult. You see, Mike knows that you need him more than he needs you, and he knows that you are willing to sacrifice a bit in order to get what you want – which he controls. In my experiences, Strong-Arm Mike forced my biz partner to open up a personal account when it was absolutely not necessary for the business that we had. But Mike, flexed his muscle; not his physical, like many street thugs like to do, but his financial muscle – which is even stronger. That day we were treated like the silly monkeys, bowing to Strong-Arm, we had to accept his terms; which were so unconventional that the personal banker that we dealt with regarding this matter felt so embarrassed and shocked that this was happening to us. Hmm, she probably never seen anything like this before.

But Silly Monkeys get special treatment, right? Silly Monkey series to be continued, next the ‘Entrepreneur’ …

In the black community, there is a strong disdain for law enforcement. Historically, the law enforcement has enforced the racist and segregation laws of the government. Thus, it is only fitting that the black community did not trust and/or respect law enforcement (since it wasn’t being reciprocated). Out of this frustration grew the Black Panther Party, which was an organization of individuals (primarily black) who ‘policed’ their own community; which is somewhat noble, however we all know what happened to the black panther party (google it if you are unaware). Even the Crips, the notorious gang out of Westside L.A. that now spawns the world in crip blue attire, started off as a child (not literally, but metaphorically) from the Black Panther Party; the Crips had a mandate to initiate social change in their community – however, the allure of drugs trumped that ideology.

So it can be said that from generation to generation, has attitudes and behaviors are passed down from parent to child, it is not hard to understand that even up to this very day, the black community, specifically the young black community have a strong disdain for police. Movements such as ‘Stop Snitching’ are not just a slogan on a T-shirt, but the Stop snitching campaign represents a concept that is shared by many.

What I find funny, and let me know if this has happened to you, is that some of my friends whom claim that cops are always harassing and ‘racially profiling’ them are the same individuals that actually engage in illegal activities and/or have been involved in the legal system before. Has this ever happened to you?

We all know that stereotypes exist for all races & cultures. In a definitional construct, a stereotype can be defined as a generalized statement regarding behavior or attitude for a group of people. Stereotypes are usually developed from either personal experiences or are absorbed from various media texts. Personally, stereotyping is a part of human functioning – on a cognitive level it is applying a mental framework (set of ideas & concepts) to a situation, problem, or interactions. The problem for the ‘art’ of stereotyping comes in its application – treating people a certain way because of a stereotype. I’m sure we have all experienced that feeling – some more than others, and I accept this reality. My qualm is not really the ‘treatment’, but the “limits of potential” that stereotypes can exert.

I get that being a young black male that I am maladapted, aggressive, may have several illegitimate children, very fashionable, do several drugs, and have a lack of respect for authority figures – due primarily to the absence of a father figure in my childhood. Now with that fact(s) I am also an entrepreneur. In regards to entrepreneurs, when I tell others that I have businesses, the primary assumption is that I am either creating a music label or clothing line. Whats alarming is that black, white, asian, brown people like place the same limit: the extent of the ‘Black Entrepreneur’ is limited to Music & Fashion. So one can imagine the shocking expressions I receive when I tell others that I have a Media & Event Planning Company; worse when I get into rich descriptive detail regarding concepts & terms. The change in behavioral expression (facial, body, verbal) is almost instant – the limits that were disposed on me had been shattered & something significant has happened. I am now no longer a “constant, predictable negro” in their eyes – I now represent a variable that can not easily be defined by existing stereotypes. Making my potential limitless – of course, I knew this all the time, but it brings me a sense of joy to ‘school’ others from time to time whom try to limit me.

NOTE:
Ironically, when you stereotype others & place limitations on their behavior, you kind of limit your own abilities to think outside the ‘box’ or paradigm.

Has this ever happened to you
Several times while I was at University, in the mall, walking down the street, minding my own god damn business – people would approach me to ask if I got that ‘sticky-icky’. You know, that chronic, cheeba, herb, dro, hi-grade, gunja, and whatever other terminology is out there for weed.

I guess my attire labels me as a certain type: you know, that young black hip-hop male who probably has no education or job, so naturally he must be involved in ‘pushing’ some kind of illegal drugs (of course, to afford his flossed-out name brand attire). So I guess I just fit a stereotype, thus I should accept all of its parameters …. I think not. One should only change behaviour or style because of their own intuition – not society.
So in the future if I am asked for any ‘hi-grade’, depending on the race of the questioner (even if black), I will respond with an equal or greater level of ignorance.

Yes, I know ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, but if someone slaps me, and I turn around and stomp them f— out, then they are less likely (deterred) to ask that type of question to a dude like me.